The Corner Penthouse

Universal recently released the Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection (1955-1962) DVD. Read on to find out more about it...

[ SYNOPSIS ]

Join the legendary "Master of Suspense" in 263 (out of 268) episodes from his original unforgettable series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From 1955-1962, the most famous director in the world hosted, produced and occasionally directed the iconic anthology series that, in the words of Hitchcock himself, "brought murder back into the home - where it belongs." Featuring some of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood history including Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Joan Fontaine, Claude Rains, Walter Matthau, Thelma Ritter, Joseph Cotton, Peter Falk, Teresa Wright, Leslie Nielsen and Alfred Hitchcock's daughter Patricia, along with so many more, Alfred Hitchcock Presents is a groundbreaking series whose impact continues to resonate today.

[ EPISODES ]

The 34-disc set includes 263 out of 268 episodes of the 1955-1962 series that originally aired on CBS and NBC. You will notice that this set is titled "The Legacy Collection" and not "The Complete Series". This is because there are five episodes missing, all from Seasons 6 & 7. That's why the back of those cases does NOT say "All Episodes", like the other season cases do.


The five missing episodes are:

1 - Season 6, Episode 01. "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat"
2 - Season 6, Episode 07. "Outlaw in Town"
3 - Season 6, Episode 19. "The Landlady"
4 - Season 7, Episode 27. "Act of Faith"
5 - Season 7, Episode 30. "What Frightened You, Fred?"

Why they are missing, I do not know. Since this is just a re-pressing of the original Season 6 & 7 discs, it means that they are not present in the earlier releases, either. If the masters are missing, that's one thing. If it's a legal issue, it's a shame that it couldn't be worked out some time over the past 20 years.

[ SPECIFICATIONS ]

The show is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The show is Not Rated. Audio languages include English. Subtitle languages include English SDH.

[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]

All of the content listed below can be found on the noted discs.

• SEASON 1, DISC 6: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Look Back (14:44) - This featurette contains interviews with Pat Hitchcock (daughter of Alfred Hitchcock/actress), Norman Lloyd (producer/director/actor), and Hilton Green (assistant director).
• SEASON 4, DISC 4: Fasten Your Seatbelt: The Thrilling Art of Alfred Hitchcock (6:25)

[ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ]

Each of the seven seasons is in its own individual plastic case (with each disc on its own page, no stacking or overlapping), and the seven slide into a tight side-loading slipbox. Episode lists are printed on the inside of each case.


These are the same disc masters that were originally released as dual-sided discs in fold-out digibook packaging about 20 years ago. They have now been repressed as single-sided discs. For example, the original Season 1 set was three dual-sided discs, but now it's six single-sided discs, as seen in the photo below Universal did this for The Munsters (reviewed here) and Kolckak: The Night Stalker a few years ago, and other series, I'm sure. I'm happy to see Universal do this, instead of authoring new discs with more episodes crammed per disc and extras lost (like Warner Brothers did for many series, such as Dukes of Hazzard and Thundercats). I'm also happy to see them replace the crappy and irreplaceable-if-broken Digibooks with standard plastic cases.


Each season is color-coded, which would be great were it not for the fact that Season 6 has discs with white printing on a yellow background! Although the camera can see the text easily, my eyes can not. I may have to go over the white printing with a black marker.


[ NOTES ]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Legacy Collection (1955-1962) is available on DVD only. While a high definition Blu-ray release would have been nice, this is a FANTASTIC set nonetheless. Definitely better than the earlier releases. To go along with this, Australian company Via Vision released two region-free U.S.-friendly DVD sets of Hitch's other series that are worth a purchase: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Complete 1985-1989 Series and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Complete Series.

This item has been provided by Universal for review on this site.